Hi everyone,
Welcome to the European/Russian Adventure. As always, if you don’t want to get these in your email box please write me and I’ll take your name off the list. You can always follow the blog instead.
The pictures:
0006 The 1 World Trade Center Building.
0008 The bronze relief of the attack.
0016 The South Pool in the 9/11 Memorial. The waterfalls are 30 feet high and the pool covers about an acre, the actual base of the south tower.
April 25-30 – The Adventure Begins. After an uneventful 2 day trip we arrived in PA and stayed for 3 days visiting my relatives. We celebrated Diana’s birthday with my Aunt Irma. She had a homemade chocolate cake baked by her neighbor which she decorated with a candle and the obligatory birthday song was sung. We had Philly style steak sandwiches from a little Italian place near her home.
From there it was to NYC where we are staying at the Holiday Inn Express-Times Square. It’s on the border of Hell’s Kitchen and The Theater District, a pretty good location for getting around. The A, C & E trains run down 8th Ave and from them you can connect with all the other major subway routes. NYC blocks are very long rectangles. Going north or south the blocks are very short, going east and west the blocks are very long. I’d say the ration is about 5:1. This makes for misleading directions. If someone tells you that it’s only a 12 block walk and they’re talking about going north or south it’s a pretty short walk, if you’re going to be heading east or west it’s 5 times longer.
May 1 – New York City, New York. Our first full day in the city was spent at two places, the 9/11 Memorial (Ground Zero) and the Museum of Jewish History.
As I said before, our hotel is located near the A, C & E lines. Up where we are, 39th St., all three run on the same tracks, but south of us they branch out in different directions so you have to be a bit careful about which train you get on going south. We got on the C train and got off at Fulton Street, near the WTC. We stopped at St. Paul’s Chapel, a small church in lower Manhattan. It was completed in 1766 on land granted by Anne, Queen of Great Britain and it’s the oldest surviving church building on the island.
Its two main claims to fame are that George Washington worshiped here shortly after his inauguration on April 30, 1789. During the 2 years that NYC was the nation’s capital, he attended church here because Trinity Church was being rebuilt. The second, and much more recent, event was the attack on 9/11/2001. Even though the church is directly across the street from where the twin towers stood, not even a window was broken by the flying debris. It served as a relief center for the police, fire fighters, construction workers and other who were working at ground zero. For almost a year hundreds of volunteers worked around the clock, serving meals, making beds, counseling and praying with fire fighters, construction workers, police and others. Their physical welfare was also tended to by offering massages, therapy and foot care. Musicians performed in the chapel to help buoy their spirits. It also became the site of spontaneous memorials to the missing and dead.
From there we picked up passes to the 9-11 Memorial. They’re free, but they do solicit donations and most people give something. On the walk from St. Paul’s there’s a bronze relief that’s about 40 feet long that captures a moment when both towers are still standing but on fire. It shows the police and firefighters hard at work trying to rescue people and fight the fires. It’s inscribed “DEDECATED TO THOSE WHO FELL AND THOSE WHO CARRY ON.” and “MAY WE NEVER FORGET.”
Point of Personal Privelege. Recent events seem to indicate that at least some in our current administration choose to forget and bend over backwards to avoid labeling the dastardly attack in Boston for what it is, radical Islamic terrorism. I understand that most Muslims in the USA are peaceful people and good citizens. But that should not stop us from naming the source of the evil behind these mindless acts of destruction and death. Heaven knows I’m embarrassed and ashamed by the things some nut-jobs have done in the name of Christianity and the distraction that is from all the good things Christians do.
The line to get into the memorial was long. It took almost an hour to get inside but the day was bright and cool and everyone in line, staff members included, was friendly. Once inside you are near the South Pool. The almost one acre square recessed pool is at the site of the South Tower of the original WTC. The North Pool is also located where the North Tower stood. The waterfall in each pool runs around the entire perimeter of the structure. It drops 30 feet down from ground level and the water runs into a square located at the center of the pool that’s about 30 feet a side. They say these are the largest man-made waterfalls in North America. Around the perimeter of each of the pools is a waist high slanted metal frame that has the names of all the people killed in the towers. Just like the Vietnam Memorial there are kiosks where you can look up the names and the location of the panel where the person is memorialized. It makes you sad to see the names but one in particular was very poignant. It listed the lady’s name followed by “and her unborn child”. Reading that stopped me in my tracks. So very sad.
One upbeat part of the Memorial is the Survivor Tree. It’s a callery pear tree that was badly damaged in the attack. It was discovered, almost limbless, burned and nearly rootless as the rubble of the fallen buildings was cleared. It was salvaged by the parks department and to everyone’s surprise, was nursed back to health. It was 8 feet tall when found and it’s now almost 30 feet in height. All the other trees in the park are swamp white oaks.
The museum building on the grounds is still under construction as is the 1 World Trade Center building. The new building is 105 stories and is actually taller than the previous buildings.
Our next stop was down by Battery Park. Diana wanted to see the Jewish History Museum. As I’ve mentioned before it occurred to me as a young man that I had gotten my Protestant Christian beliefs through both Israel and the Roman Catholic Church. It seemed to me only reasonable to find out as much as I could about both to understand the roots of my Christianity. Diana is of the same mind so we went for a visit.
It’s a small building dedicated to research and education. Most of the visitors are students traveling in groups. The core display is a three story structure that starts in about 1920 and chronicles the migration of Jews from various places to new homes around the world. The 2nd floor has displays on the 1930s and 40s focusing mostly on the rise of the Nazi party and the persecution and “relocation” of European Jews. The third floor contains information about the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland in Israel. It had some very informative displays and videos.
From there it was back to the hotel and a little R & R.
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